One of the great movies in cinema history was David Lean’s “The Bridge on the River Kwai” (1957). Dealing
with the horrid mistreatment of British prisoners of war by the Japanese in World War II as they were forced to build a railroad
in the jungles of Burma, it left one unanswered question. How did the survivors on both sides adapt to life at home after
the war ended?

“The Railway Man” provides an answer in chilling fashion. The extraordinary Colin Firth plays Eric Lomax, a former
British soldier haunted by his time in captivity. Appearing normal, he rides trains in England as both a hobby and to escape
his past.

In the process, he meets regularly with old military comrades, guys who provide collective support without saying one word
about their ordeal. Stellan Skarsgard gives another accomplished performance as a close friend who helps Lomax protect their
dark secrets.

Lomax meets a divorced woman on one of his train rides, and he falls in love and marries her. Played warmly by Nicole Kidman,
she seeks to help her husband confront his reoccurring nightmares.

A critical moment in this film occurs when Kidman’s Patti beseeches Skarsgard’s Finlay to reveal what really
happened after they surrendered to the Japanese. Patti learns of her husband’s lengthy torture that resulted from his
creation of an old radio designed solely to allow his battered friends to listen to news and music from England.

The film reaches its denouement with the discovery that one of Lomax’s Japanese tormenters is not only alive, but conducting
a tour of the original prison camp and surrounding work area in Malaysia. Lomax must decide if he is to confront his adversary,
and the movie defines the character of both men.

While Firth is wonderful at every turn, he is matched by the performance of Hiroyuki Sanada, playing a man equally haunted
by his past war experience.

“The Railway Man” is based on a true story, and I couldn’t help but feel its relationship to the unforgivable
torture that our country inflicted on captives under Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Vice President Dick Cheney.
As we watch Lomax being hideously waterboarded in “The Railway Man,” wasn’t that the same reaction of many
Islamic captives under our control?

If we are to condemn Japanese military superiors for their cruel treatment of Allied soldiers in World War II, don’t
we also need to condemn our own country for engaging in the same activities in the 21st century? How can we excuse that which
we consider forbidden?

“Under the Skin”

Tantalized by some intriguing reviews, I was lured to see Jonathan Glazer’s “Under the Skin.” One critic
called it “dazzling,” while another labeled it “the best science fiction film in 10 years.” Let me
simply say that I was misled.

Sure, it stars Scarlett Johansson, but there is nothing remotely memorable about her performance. The film is hard to understand
from its delusional opening credits, and the few moments that are intelligible are appallingly offensive.

Without giving anything away, Johansson is an alien who spends the entire film roaming in a van in Scotland to entice decent
men to their demise. It seems that she and other extraterrestrials are in need of skin to make them appear members of the
human race, and victims die peacefully as they follow a gradually disrobing Johansson into dark buildings.

In effect, Johansson plays the role of an exotic fishing lure designed to hook human trout. It was interesting the first
time it happened, and it left you thinking, “What’s next?” The problem is that nothing was next, only a
repeat of the same thing over and over again.

The film is nearly devoid of dialogue, which only added to its incredible boredom. However, there were several scenes between
Johansson and her male victims that were so off-putting they leave you to regret entering the theater.

The first concerned a father on a Scottish beach with his two young children and their dog. When the dog swims out into the
waves, a 10-year-old boy swims after him, leaving both drowning. The father desperately swims after them, leaving a 2-year-old
child on the beach. When the father starts to flounder, a caring bystander swims out to grab him and bring him back to the
shore.

As the bystander lies gasping for air, the father bolts back into the water where you can guess the results. Seeing all this,
Johansson walks up to the gasping stranger, hits him over the head with a rock, killing him. As the 2-year-old child cries,
she ignores him while dragging off the dead body. You can almost hear her mumbling, “Shut up, kid, I need a little skin.”

The second unconscionable episode concerns the seduction of a poor, facially deformed man who resembled the central character
played by Eric Stoltz in the movie “Mask” (1985).

Upon some reflection, I know that the purpose of the film was for Johansson to display an alien who simply didn’t understand
acceptable norms of human conduct. On the other hand, she did learn how to drive, not to mention using her sexuality, and
her inability to remotely care about the most vulnerable people in our society was inexcusable.

Regardless, I’ve warned you. See it at your own risk.•

__________

Robert Hammerle practices criminal law in Indianapolis. When he is not in the courtroom or working diligently
in his Pennsylvania Street office, Bob can likely be found at one of his favorite movie theaters watching and preparing to
review the latest films. To read more of his reviews, visit www.bigmouthbobs.com. The opinions expressed are those of the
author.

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2 Comments

Obsessing on Stellan Skarsgård ? Last week's porn review was a movie with this same leading man. Can this paper post reviews
on movies that are more uplifting and inspiring? Many God-honoring movies out right now, why not one of them? Because Stellan
Skarsgård does not star?

NOTHING NEW-SEE 'Terror from the Year 5000' for a good(bad?) alien scare!

es macht nichtsMay 8, 2014 10:34 PM

Have not seen this one, but it may have been influenced by 'Terror from the Year 5000' (1958-US). 'Terror' involves a superficially
attractive radioactive mutant woman from the future brought back to the present via a time machine, invented by the Professor.
She seeks to bring a human to the future to add genetic material to the gene pool which has been decimated by nuclear war.
(SPOILER WARNING!) The visitor steals a human's face,, is now beautiful, and has almost talked a human male into going to
the future with her when at the last moment the professor's daughter pulls off the visitor's mask revealing her grotesque
radiation mutated face. One of the earliest and best uses of a horrific 'she-monster' to terrify the audience, which is what
it sounds like is going on in 'Under the Skin', tho apparently Johansson's character is not disfigured but merely psychologically
grotesque. Might have been a nice touch if she were both, tho doubt that Johansson would have taken such a role.

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